Education & Information

Our Blogs

Several members of our research team have informative blogs, filled with photos of Sears houses, and helpful information for identifying Sears houses, and other kit houses. We've been at it for years, so there's a wealth of information available through our blogs. You can also find leads to additional information, in the sidebars of our blogs.

• To find our blogs, click here

• To read more about who we are, and how we began, click here (you'll also be treated to a set of Sears houses in the Philadelphia area)

Catalogs Online and Other Resources

• To see kit-house and plan-book catalogs available online, click here.

• To see a list of informative books and catalog reprints, click here, and scroll to the bottom of the page.

Presentations and Classes

Though presentations and classes are not our primary focus, several of us do occasionally present at historical societies, libraries, conventions, and community colleges.

• In the Michigan area, contact Andrew and Wendy Mutch, here

• In the Chicago area, for presentations, tours, and classes, contact Lara Solonickne, here

• In Elgin, Illinois, available for interviews and requests for presentations and research, Architectural Historian Rebecca L. Hunter, contact info here

• In the Springfield, Ohio area, contact Cindy Catanzaro, here

• In the St. Louis, Missouri area, or for a Zoom presentation, contact Judith Chabot, SearsHouseSeeker@gmail.com 

Social Media

Interviews

Our team has been interviewed for national, local, and regional newspapers, as well as for television news pieces and podcasts. We've been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Atlas Obscura, Chicago Tribune, Columbus Dispatch, Boston Globe, and numerous other publications; we've been profiled in the St. Louis Business Journal, and featured in a segment of NBC Nightly News and NPR's Marketplace. We can be contacted at the links, above. Here are just a few examples:

• Andrew and Wendy Mutch, in an NBC Nightly News segment, This Couple is Working To Preserve Homes that Come in a Box

• Cindy Catanzaro, interviewed for the Columbus Dispatch, here

• Cindy Catanzaro, interviewed for OKI Wanna Know: Where are the local Sears kit homes? (in the Cincinnati area), here

• Andrew and Wendy Mutch, and Judith Chabot, interviewed for Atlas Obscura, here

• Judith Chabot, interviewed for her work in researching Sears Houses, and her career as a teacher: St. Louis Business Journal video

• Judith Chabot, interviewed about our research group for the NPR show, Marketplace: hear the interview & read the story, here

• Karen DeJeet, interviewed for a story by Stephanie Ritenbaugh, in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (if you have a subscription, click here; if not, you can see a re-print in another publication, here).

• Catarina Bannier,  Judith Chabot, and Andrew Mutch interviewed for an article in the Wall Street Journal, available here as a non-subscription re-print, or here, for subscribers

• Lara Solonickne and Rebecca L. Hunter interviewed for the Chicago Tribune, here

• Judith Chabot and Rebecca L. Hunter,  interviewed by Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer, Kevin Riordan, here (for subscribers)

• Rebecca L. Hunter, interviewed for this charming video piece done by the Washington Post

• Rebecca L. Hunter, interviewed for the True Tales From Old Houses podcast, June 2023, here

• Judith Chabot, interviewed for a Trib Live article by Tony LaRussa, here

Communities We Have Researched

We have been researching for a number of years, and have, to date, added over 18,000 houses to our national database (August 2024 update), so it would be too cumbersome a task to list, here, all of the communities that we have researched in depth. Here, though, are links to some online resources of ours, that list Sears houses (and other kit houses) that we have found in a specific community:

• Historic Chevy Chase DC Kit Houses (here)

• Sears Houses and other kit houses in Arlington County, Virginia (here)

• Sears houses in Yonkers, New York (here)

• Kit houses in Hampton Manor, New York (here)

• Kit houses in Ossining, New York (here)

• Sears houses in Massapequa Park, New York (here)

• Sears houses in Massachusetts (here)

• Sears houses in St. Louis, Missouri and environs (here)

• Sears houses and Aladdin Houses in Hyattsville, Maryland (here)

• Kit houses in Takoma Park, Maryland (here)

• Kit houses in Ann Arbor, Michigan (here)

• Kit houses in Berkley, Michigan (here)

• Kit houses in Waterford, Michigan (here)

• Sears houses in Covington, Kentucky (here)